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The Quest for a Dumber Phone

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Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#131

Post by statquontrarian »

jackfischer wrote: post #105

I tried the Light Phone II but found it too limiting. While they did an admirable job trying to get functionality like maps usable it wasn't practical enough overall. Currently using the Unihertz Titan Pocket with the minimalist phone launcher as my daily driver.

I just got the Unihertz Titan Pocket and I'm having periodic WiFi disconnection issues. Do you see those? I gathered MTKLOG traces for them reproducing the issue but haven't heard back for days. I posted on the Facebook group, nicely, and my post was deleted. I just escalated and forwarded my email with the diagnostics to any unihertz email I could find on the web and we'll see what happens tomorrow, but I'm likely to just return my phone and conclude that Unihertz is not good.

This is a well known issue that has been posted on the Facebook groups and various reddit pages and from what I can tell, it has been around for at least a few years. It looks like it affects the Pocket and the Slim, although unclear if the original Titan is affected. I tried the various workarounds noted by Unihertz on the Facebook forum posts:

1. Moved next to router. The WiFi screen shows excellent -33 RSSI signal value

2. Settings } Apps & Notifications } Advanced } Special app access } Battery optimization } All apps

        2a. System Wi-Fi Resources: Not optimized

        2b. Tethering: Not optimized

        2c. com.android.wifi.resources.overlay: Not optimized

        2d. The app I was streaming video from
3. Settings } Intelligent assistance } App blocker } Off

4. Ensured my router has different SSID for 2.4GHz and SSID for 5GHz networks

5. Connected phone to 2.4GHz network

6. Not running mesh mode

7. Disabled IPv6

8. WiFi authentication set to WPA2

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#132

Post by petodo »

the problem is not smartphone but people without self control

you can use smartphone exactly same way as dumbphone and still have smart features available when needed

problem with dumbphones is mainly horrible camera, so you would need to carry camera if you wanna capture something, smartphone with self control solves this issue, nobody forces you to use anything but Phone and Messages apps and you will still have great camera and GPS, which are both lacking at dumbphones

if you use phone this way you should have pretty great battery life even with smartphone, you can choose some power efficient SoC combined with huge battery, for instance in Sony Xperia 10 IV, which is also relatively compact (narrow, but longer)

if you wanna save your time delete all social media apps and preferably also block these sites in browser, then also turn off notifications for everything but Phone and Messages, eventually Email if you need and your problem is solved

if you wanna go a bit more extreme you could use custom ROM without gapps, but honestly as someone using this config for almost decade I am hardly limited by apps because pretty much everything works even without gapps

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#133

Post by fsflover »

brewdad wrote: post #128
fsflover wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Librem 5 phone runs desktop Linux, and you can connect any bluetooth or usb keyboard to it thus turning it into a laptop for programming.

But you’re still stuck lugging around a keyboard on the go. I guess I don’t see the appeal. If you are in the office just use a real laptop.

First, bluetooth keyboards can be portable. Or, you can use a Nexdoc. Second, you can have a single device instead of a phone and a laptop/desktop.

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#134

Post by throwaway2037 »

simondotau wrote: post #107
ekianjo wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They should not be required for anything either.

Neither should a bank account, or a car, or weather-appropriate clothes, but they can be pretty damn handy.

Nice reply. I laughed. At the office, when I am asked "Do you really need it?" I sometimes answer: "I don't _need_ my left leg, but I really like it." Same for toilet paper in the stalls.

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#135

Post by throwaway2037 »

chefkoch wrote: post #87
throwaway4aday wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It adheres to the definition. The problem with the phrasing is that nearly all people in America and many other countries are inundated with luxury items to the point where we view them as basic necessities. That doesn't make them necessities, they are still lifestyle choices that while more affordable than ever are still superfluous to our existence. In other words, we're all spoiled brats ;)

At least in Germany you get a Smartphone for way less than 100€ and a call + SMS + 4GB data flat for 5€. If that is luxury what is going to the cinema for 20€ (movie and popcorn) for 2 hours?

5 EUR per month for service? That is crazy cheap in a highly developed country. Which provider?

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#137

Post by throwaway2037 »

titanomachy wrote: post #74
andrew-dc wrote: post #69

Having not used a smart phone for ~5 years now, I can say that it is totally a workable solution - however, there are, of course trade-offs, and several persistent annoyances. Rather than get into a list, I will present the one thing that I find the most frustrating: Our society expects you to have and use a smart phone for nearly everything. This might be less annoying if it meant only new functions or supplemented…

Calling a smartphone a "luxury item" if you live in America (or similar) is a bit disingenuous. Anything that has 85% market penetration is by definition not a luxury item. In some countries this could be an accurate description, though. And I agree with the overall sentiment, I would like it to be easier to get through my day without using a smartphone.

No kidding. India has GDP per capita less than 2.500 USD and mobile phones are ubiquitous -- old, poor, kids, whatever. Plus service is dirt cheap. Reliance JioPhone is insanely cheap: https://www.jio.com/en-in/jiophone

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#138

Post by megous »

chefkoch wrote: post #87
throwaway4aday wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It adheres to the definition. The problem with the phrasing is that nearly all people in America and many other countries are inundated with luxury items to the point where we view them as basic necessities. That doesn't make them necessities, they are still lifestyle choices that while more affordable than ever are still superfluous to our existence. In other words, we're all spoiled brats ;)

At least in Germany you get a Smartphone for way less than 100€ and a call + SMS + 4GB data flat for 5€. If that is luxury what is going to the cinema for 20€ (movie and popcorn) for 2 hours?

I never bought a smartphone for myself, but I've seen 100 EUR smarthpones, and what you get is just a toy (unless you want to do your banking or login to e-mail on a Linux device with severely outdated kernel and no OS updates, which can't go for a few minutes without phoning home, wherever that is)

More expensive ones are not significantly better, either, unless you pick a brand known for keeping up with security updates.

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#139

Post by wishfish »

nyx_land wrote: post #81

The problem with trying to replace a smartphone with a dumbphone is that most people (young people at least) don't use calling and texting anymore unless forced to. I'd rather have something in between a laptop and a smartphone that is designed to be comfortable for carrying around in a small bag or pocket, but that also has a physical keyboard and is designed to be used productively for programming or writing for ex…

iPad Mini fits (barely) in my pants pocket when I'm wearing my baggy cargo pants. Also would go around nicely in a bag. There's a variety of keyboard cases for it. Including hinged ones with trackpads which turn it into a tiny laptop. Can get it with a cellular connection. Small enough to take with you everywhere but big enough to make it awkward to pull out constantly.

Only drawback for your use case is the programming part. Though you could also get a small Samsung or Lenovo 8" Android tablet which would give you much more flexibility. There's also the 8" laptops from a few niche companies, though they will probably be thicker than tablet + keyboard case and wouldn't have the same battery life or cellular options.

Smallest, easily available device I can think of in this form factor is a 7" Amazon Fire with the Zagg hinged keyboard case. It's slow, has so-so battery life, and you'd still need to get a cellular connection elsewhere. But it's about the size of a VHS tape and it's pocketable. I had one for a while because I wanted a cheap tiny laptop. Fire tablets are easy to turn into mostly generic Android machines so it would be useful.

Re: The Quest for a Dumber Phone

#140

Post by cyxxon »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #135
chefkoch wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least in Germany you get a Smartphone for way less than 100€ and a call + SMS + 4GB data flat for 5€. If that is luxury what is going to the cinema for 20€ (movie and popcorn) for 2 hours?

5 EUR per month for service? That is crazy cheap in a highly developed country. Which provider?

You don't get that consistently. You can go to check24.de and get their sim.de offer for 5gb data and sms/telephone flat, but that's a limited time deal. So technically yes, but in general you are more in the 8-10€ ballpark for this kind of offering.
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